Well this has been another extremely busy Sunday!
We awoke to a very cold but sunny morning and I dashed around with the usual chores before a long Wil Walk and then bussing to Church.There was quite a lot of set up required for this morning’s activities so I was pleased to see that Ralph had come, as he is a great preteen helper!
Today’s Gospel is the story of the Woman at the Well, not the easiest of passages to convey to young children. During the week I had read it over in.several versions and also surfed around on YouTube to see if there was a good “child-friendly” adaptation.I did find one quite good one, although it was long (11minutes) and throughout the video a small child coughed! Quite ironic that no one offered the poor thing a glass of water, given the story! After rejecting the “coughing” version it seemed best to just retell the story myself, with props.
The key aspect I was hoping to illustrate was the infilling of Spiritual “water” and how God is as close to us as every breath we take. So first we talked about the Woman and how she had done bad things in her life, we discussed Wells and how one draws water, and about how and what Jesus shared with the woman that day, changing her life forever!
We took straws and blew bubbles in the bowl of water to show that, even though we cannot see the breath within us it is always there and without it we cannot have life.
We continued our discussion over a snack and then moved into the craft room and made Bubble Paint (place a big squirt of liquid dish soap in a small shallow bowl mix well with a squirt of gouache, place a straw in the liquid and blow gently.) Once a big cloud of bubbles forms, take a sheet of white paper and gently glide it over the top of the bubbles to make a print. All the children really enjoyed this! We tried several different colours and Ralph achieved some amazing results.
Soon it was time for a quick clean up (of the table and the people!) and closing prayers. Today we took some quiet time to each think of one thing that happened during the week for which we needed to ask God’s forgiveness. I told them to count to 5 (which Seren very sweetly did out loud for us!) and then we each prayed. I love listening to children’s’ prayers, simple direct and straightforward. Always helping me to see life from their perspective and to strip things down to what is really important. Simple relationships, clear communication with God, just like Jesus and the Woman at the Well.
While we waited to re-join everyone else we played a storytelling game and closed our morning together with lots of giggles!
After church I walked home through the quiet residential streets, up the steep hill at Murray Park and home along NDG Ave, reflecting on the morning and considering the afternoon still to come. Once home, there were only 40 minutes in which to eat a quick lunch, load up my pack basket and head out again for the Wil Walk, ending up at Isaiah 40 where our AGM was to take place at 3pm.
Arriving at 230, I put on the tea and coffee and set out the refreshments and then booted up the laptop, ready to take minutes. It was lovely that Melanie was able to bring her guitar so we got to sing several praise songs which made a long meeting much more bearable! Best of all, at the end, I got to play a bit and have some cuddles with my 2 little Godsons. After washing the dishes and tidying up we hurried home and the Huyers stopped by on their way back to Ottawa to pick up the Birthday things (mentioned in yesterday’s Post).
So I’ve just had a late dinner of frittata, fougasse and lemon ice cream. Wil is happily curled up beside me, Mandu on my lap, and we can now settle down for a quiet Sabbath evening.
Looking back over the day, God’s hand can be seen over so many parts, big and small. Sunday night is my time to write a Journal page of Thanksgivings for the week. There will be much to note down this evening.